Kingdom Blessings

Matthew 5:1-12

Good morning, Church. If you have your Bibles and I trust that you do- go ahead and make your way to Matthew 5.

I’m excited about today- For the first time since I have become the Pastor at Cedar Bay- we get to celebrate the ordniance of baptism. We have four ready to go.

and I want to make it perfectly clear- if you have put your trust- your faith- in Jesus Christ and you have never been baptized, today could be the day you go public with your faith in Jesus.

And here’s the deal—it’s not just a ritual, it’s not just a box to check. Baptism is identification with Jesus. It’s saying, “I belong to Him. I’ve made my decision, and I’m ready to go all in.”

And I love this—the Thompson Family has been waiting on this. They’ve been praying about it, talking about it with your family, they even brought a change of clothes because they knew it was coming.

I’m praying others want to take the next step of obedience today- you didn’t plan for it at all—but before this service is over, you’ll decide, “Yep. Today’s the day.”

Now I know what some of you are thinking: “Shouldn’t I wait? Maybe spend some more time preparing?”

And sure, there are times to prepare—but listen, every baptism in the New Testament—without exception—was on the spot. Spontaneous.

People met Jesus, believed in Him, and immediately got baptized. So if you decide today, you’re in good company.

So for many of you, it’s time to quit putting it off. Time to stop kicking the can down the road. Time to take bold action. And because baptism is about identifying with Jesus, I want to spend the rest of our time looking at what many believe is the core teaching of Jesus—the Sermon on the Mount. So go ahead and grab your Bible and turn with me to Matthew 5.

I’m excited about this one too- Because for the next...i don’t know… 12/ 13 weeks or so… we are going to walk through the greatest sermon ever given in the history of ever.

And we have all heard some really great sermons.

I’ve read Jonathan Edward’s Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. That’s a great sermon.

John Piper’s sermon “Don’t Waste Your Life” is another great sermon.

Charles Spurgeon’s “Look Unto Me and Be Saved.”

Billy Graham and the Second Coming of Christ.

Some of the Most famous and best sermon’s ever preached.

One of my personal favorite sermons is by Voddie Bachman. Its called Why I choose to Believe the Bible.

I must have listened to this sermon at least 20 times now. I show to ever class I teach.

And Voddie just does a master class of breaking down why the Bible is reliable, trustworthy, and true.

Like One day I hope to be the type of preacher Voddie Bachman is. He is a man of God and he unequivocally stands for the things of God with no apologies.

He makes this statement throughout the sermon- and I just love it- He says “I choose to believe the Bible because it's a reliable collection of historical documents written down by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eye witnesses, they report Supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claimed that their writings are Divine rather than human in origin.”

and all those things are true. 100 percent. all those things are true. But believing that statement does not make you a Christian.

Demons believe that Jesus is God. Demons know Scripture. Demons will not enter into Heaven.

Because they aren’t following Jesus. They aren’t trusting Jesus.

I don’t know if you know this- but the only way to Heaven is through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

We live in this backwards society that tries to tell you differently. They tell you that all roads lead to God. If you’re just a good person, you’ll get into Heaven or whatever version equivalent to Heaven if you just be true to yourself.

And that is none sense.

Well, you only follow Jesus because of the culture you grew up in. You only follow Jesus because that is what works for you. Its the same thing for people that live all around the world. They just follow what works for them.

Does it work for them? I’m not being funny. Do those other cultures- does it really work for them?

Because- this is true- internet is a wonderful tool- every nation that is considered a first world nation- was a Christian nation except two.

Israel- Judaism and Japan- Shinto and Buddhism.

and fun fact about Japan- it was never officially a Christian nation but it came really really close at one point. But for a brief moment in the 1500s–1600s, it looked like Christianity might spread widely—before persecution nearly wiped it out.

and not everyone in those other countries are Christian but they are benefiting from a Christian Worldview.

many of those countries are considered post-Christian: the majority don’t actively practice the faith anymore, even though Christianity shaped their history.

It’s the same thing we are witnessing in the United States.

John Adams famously said “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

And George Washington in His Farewell address said “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”

So our country only runs right, when the people are moral and religious. Religious meaning followers of Jesus.

There are a whole bunch of “religious” people who on paper do the right thing, say the right thing, know when to pray, when to kneel, when to sing, when to raise their hand, they know the right verses for the right occasion but they don’t have anything to do with Jesus.

They have a lot of head knowledge but they don’t have any heart knowledge. That isn’t going to change you form the inside out. God is after our heart.

And its only through the heart transformation of Jesus that we can have true morals.

I say this all the time- Following Jesus isn’t about good and bad- its about life and death.

But when we come alive to Christ Jesus, that changes everything about everything about everything.

and through the live changing transformation of Jesus, we will begin to walk this earth in a way that is counter culture to the world.

As we are about to see- Jesus tells us what the life of a disciple of Christ looks like.

And none of us are going to be perfect in this- we can’t be. But this is the standard. The standard is Jesus.

So lets go ahead and start diving into Matthew 5 and see what the Lord has in store for us today:

Matthew 5:1–12 ESV

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Pray

Right out the gate in verse 1- Matthew wants us to see something big here. The way he introduces Jesus at the start of the Sermon on the Mount isn’t just filler—it’s a signal.

He’s saying, “Hey, pay attention. The Great Teacher has arrived, and He’s the fulfillment of one of the most important prophecies in the Old Testament.”

If you’ve read Matthew before, you know he loves to point out how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament.

He’s always saying, “Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet.”

But here in chapter 5, he does it in a more subtle way.

Jesus goes up on a mountain to deliver God’s Word to His people. That might sound familiar to you.

It’s the same way Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the law and deliver it to Israel.

Matthew even uses the same words you find in Exodus 19—“He went up on the mountain.” That’s not a coincidence. That’s a hyperlink back to Moses.

And then there’s this detail—Jesus sat down to teach. Now you might think, “Okay… and?”

But here’s the thing: some rabbis believed that when Moses went up the mountain to receive the law, he actually sat while God gave it to him. The Hebrew verb yāšab can mean “to remain” or “to dwell,” but a lot of Jewish interpreters took it to mean “to sit.” So when Matthew tells us Jesus sat down on the mountain, he’s giving us another clue—the Greater Moses has arrived.

So why does this matter? Because Moses himself said in Deuteronomy 18, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me… you must listen to him.” And Matthew is showing us—that’s Jesus. The new and better Moses. The One who doesn’t just deliver God’s law written on stone tablets, but the One who writes God’s law on our hearts.

So He goes up on the Mountain and sits- and this large crowd has gathered around him- probably a bunch of people who witnessed his miracles or was wanting to see one.

And While there is a large crowd- they are not the focus of the sermon- his disicples are the focus- thats who he is preaching to. Not just the 12 but all of the His disciples.

And Jesus starts His sermon witht the Beatitudes- the 8 signs of blessedness according to Jesus.

and through my studies, I learned the beatitudes can be broken into 4 sections so to speak.

You have the beatitudes of Need- the center being righteousness- the beatitudes of actions and the four-fold results.

Now, let’s talk about these first three beatitudes.

They really all hang together, and here’s the theme—they describe an awareness of need.

The Awareness of Need.

Jesus starts out His sermon by saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Now that’s a strange way to kick off a sermon, isn’t it?

I don’t think I would have started it off that way, I’d start with, “Blessed are the strong,” or “Blessed are the confident,” or maybe even “Blessed are the people who actually finish what they start—like that workout plan they bought in January.”

But Jesus doesn’t go there. He says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”

And here’s what that means: it means knowing you are spiritually broke. That apart from God, you’ve got nothing to cash in with.

That you can’t hustle or muscle your way into heaven. That’s what David was talking about in Psalm 34 when he said, “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him.”

Now, that runs opposite to the culture we live in.

We love self-reliance. Women love to claim they are strong, independent women who don’t need no man.

We admire the guy who “pulls himself up by his own bootstraps.” I’ve never actually seen anyone do that—I’m not even sure it’s physically possible. But here’s the thing: the Kingdom of God doesn’t run on bootstraps, it runs on grace.

To be poor in spirit doesn’t mean you’ve got no personality, or that you walk around like Eeyore all day saying, “Thanks for noticing me.”

It means you recognize your sin, your weakness, your inability to fix yourself—and you bring that poverty straight to God. And when you do, He gives you His grace. He gives you His kingdom. That’s the upside-down, inside-out way of Jesus.

The poor in spirit are the people who come to God with no mask on. No pretending. No résumé in hand trying to impress Him. They stand before Him stripped of all self-sufficiency, self-security, and self-righteousness.

Think of it like this—you ever show up at the gym, and there’s that one guy flexing in the mirror like he’s auditioning for a superhero movie?

Spiritually, a lot of us try to do that before God. We flex our good deeds, our Bible knowledge, our church attendance, hoping He’ll be impressed.

But Jesus says the ones who are actually blessed are the ones who admit, “God, I don’t have it together. I can’t fix myself. I need You.”

That’s what it means to be poor in spirit. It’s realizing you don’t bring anything to the table but your need—and that’s exactly what qualifies you for the kingdom.

And here’s the next step—when you realize you’re spiritually bankrupt, it makes you mourn.

Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

And you’re like, “Wait a second, how can mourning ever be a good thing? Isn’t mourning basically the opposite of blessing?” But Jesus is talking about a different kind of mourning.

This isn’t the mourning you feel when your team loses on a Saturday— you would have thought the world was coming to an end the way Alabama fans were acting when FSU boat raced them last week.

Some of us grieve like that when our team loses- like it’s the end of the world. Its not that.

And it’s not just sadness over losing money, or status, or comfort. Jesus is talking about mourning sin.

Mourning the junk in your own life. Mourning the brokenness you see in your family, in your friends, in the world around you. Mourning that people reject God and live like He doesn’t matter.

And here’s the promise—when you mourn sin, God meets you in it. He doesn’t shame you, He comforts you. He draws near, wipes the tears, and reminds you that He has dealt with sin through the cross of Jesus.

That’s why this kind of mourning is blessed. Because it doesn’t leave you stuck—it moves you toward God. And when you move toward Him, you don’t just find forgiveness, you find life.

Its not the easy life- You don’t come to Jesus to make life better- you come to Jesus because He is better than life.

I have lived a life away from the Lord and I have lived a life for the Lord- and I can say without hesitation that living a life for the Lord is so much better. Not easier, but better.

The second beatitude naturally flows into the third. If you know your spiritual poverty and you mourn it, the next step is meekness. Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

Now, let’s be clear—meekness isn’t weakness. It’s not being a pushover. It’s not the person who never speaks up or just goes along with whatever’s happening. Meekness isn’t about personality; it’s about posture. It’s the posture of a disciple.

In the Bible, meekness always gets listed as a virtue that stands opposite of the junk we usually fall into—things like pride, quarrelsomeness, jealousy, selfish ambition. Meekness is the opposite of self-assertion. And here’s what that means: you can be strong, confident, and bold—and still be meek—if you use your strength not to make yourself look good but to lift up the weak and to stand for God’s cause.

Think about Jesus. He flipped tables. He called out hypocrisy. He was bold and confrontational when it mattered. But He was also meek—because none of it was about Him making a name for Himself. It was about His Father’s glory and our salvation.

Here’s the real-life side of it: a meek person doesn’t have to win every argument on Facebook. A meek husband doesn’t have to get the last word with his wife. A meek Christian doesn’t walk into a room needing everybody to notice them—they walk in looking for someone to serve.

That’s meekness. It’s strength under control. It’s confidence without arrogance. It’s power pointed in the right direction—not for self, but for God and for others.

Do you see how all of this is building? Jesus isn’t just tossing out random “blessed are” statements. There’s a flow here. A progression. And the thread that runs through the first three beatitudes is this—awareness of need.

It starts with being poor in spirit. That’s when you realize, “I don’t bring anything to the table but my need.” .

And then what happens? You mourn. Because when you see your sin for what it really is—when you stop excusing it, minimizing it, comparing it to someone else’s—you grieve it.

And then meekness flows right out of that. Because when you know you’re poor in spirit, when you’ve mourned your sin, you don’t walk around puffed up anymore. You don’t have to win every argument. You don’t have to prove yourself. You don’t have to make everything about you. You become meek—strength under control. And that only happens when you are deeply aware of your need.

This is why Jesus starts the greatest sermon ever preached this way.

Because until you see your need, you won’t see Him as your Savior.

If you think you’ve got it all together, Jesus will just be a nice add-on, a little boost to your already decent life.

But when you know you’re spiritually broke, when you feel the weight of your sin, when you realize you can’t fix yourself—that’s when you start hungering for grace. That’s when you discover the kingdom.

So these first three beatitudes are Jesus saying: “Blessed are the ones who know they need Me. Blessed are the ones who aren’t faking it. Blessed are the ones who drop the act and cry out for mercy. Because that’s where the real blessing begins.”

Now we hit what I think is the pivotal beatitude.

Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Do you see the flow? If you know your sin and weakness, if you mourn it, if you walk humbly because of it—then your heart naturally cries out, “God, I need You to fill me with what I don’t have. I need righteousness.”

We Need Righteousness. 2. the need for Righteousness.

Now, here’s the problem for us—we don’t really understand hunger and thirst the way Jesus’ first audience did. In our world, “I’m starving” means you missed lunch and had to wait until dinner. Or “I’m dying of thirst” means you had to go 45 minutes without your Stanley cup. But in Israel, food was modest, water was scarce, and hunger and thirst were desperate longings.

Think about hiking on a hot Florida day. The sun is blazing, you’re sweating buckets, and your water bottle ran out two miles ago. At that point, nothing else matters—your body is screaming for water. That’s the picture Jesus is painting. Blessed are the ones who are desperate for righteousness like that.

Now, righteousness here isn’t just Paul’s language of legal righteousness—the atonement of sins, being declared righteous with God through the finished work of the cross of Jesus Christ. That’s true, and Jesus will unpack His atonement later in Matthew.

But in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is talking about something more personal and practical. He’s talking about disciples actually living righteous lives—doing the right thing for the right reason. Obeying God because you love Him and trust Him, not because you’re trying to check boxes.

And here’s the kicker—you and I can’t satisfy that hunger ourselves. We’re like newborn babies. An infant can scream out in hunger, but that baby can’t feed itself. It depends on the care of another. In the same way, we can hunger and thirst for righteousness, but only God can actually fill us. It takes His transforming grace to change our hearts, renew our minds, and shape our lives.

Isaiah saw this coming. In Isaiah 61, he said God’s people would be like “oaks of righteousness, planted by the Lord to glorify Him.” God Himself plants His people like trees, and then He causes righteousness to spring up in them like fruit in a garden. And here’s the good news—when God plants a tree, He tends it, He grows it, and He makes sure it produces fruit that glorifies Him.

So the blessing isn’t just in the hunger—it’s in the promise. If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, God Himself will fill you.

Now here’s what’s cool—the beatitudes of action flow out of the beatitudes of need. Once you recognize your spiritual poverty, mourn your sin, walk humbly, and hunger for righteousness, the natural overflow is how you live it out.

We become aware of our need- our need for righteousness- and this how we live it out. 3rd truth.

Live it Out.

Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” And notice where mercy starts—it starts with realizing your own weakness.

When you know you’ve blown it, you’re a lot slower to point fingers when someone else does. You can’t stick your nose up at someone because you understand you were once a black hearted wretched sinner in need of a savior just as they were.

and Understand- Mercy has a narrow sense and a broad sense.

Narrowly, it means forgiving people who hurt you. And if you cannot forgive a person because they did you wrong- but expect the Lord to forgive every sin you have every committed. You may want to do a little soul searching and see where the disconnect is. Because if you can’t give it, you ain’t got it. Terrible english- accurate theology.

And forgiveness- doesn’t mean you have to let a person back into your life. 100% does not mean that. But it does mean you don’t hold any ill will towards them, you forgive- that doesn’t mean forget.

Forgiveness is not an etch-a-sketch. It doesn’t wipe the memory away.

Forgiveness isn’t about pretending nothing ever happened. It’s about refusing to let bitterness take root. Hebrews 12:15 warns against a “root of bitterness” springing up to defile many. Forgiveness cuts that root off.

God Himself says in Jeremiah 31:34, “I will remember their sin no more,” but that doesn’t mean He loses memory- God can’t forget anything.—it means He doesn’t hold it against us. Our forgiveness is the same way. We may remember, but we choose not to keep score or weaponize the offense.

and again- we are called to live peaceably with all- sometimes that most peaceful thing we can do- is to love people at a distant.

Thats the narrow sense of mercy is forgiving.

Broadly, it means showing compassion to the weak and suffering.

And Jesus didn’t just talk about mercy, He lived it. His compassion moved Him to heal the sick, feed the hungry, and forgive sinners. Mercy isn’t just a feeling—it’s a disposition that leads to action. It means stepping in to help whether or not the person deserves it. And don’t miss this—mercy begins with God.

He said about Himself, “I am merciful and gracious” (Ex. 34:6). That’s why Jesus says, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” We show mercy because we’ve received mercy.

Then Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Think about this progression: the disciple who mourns their sin and sees how much they actually love some of their sin, they’ll want to root it out.

They’ll want to be pure. And purity has two sides in Scripture.

First, it’s about clean hands and a clean heart—your actions line up with your devotion.

Second, purity is about simplicity—it’s living without compromise, without hidden agendas. You’re not doing good because you’re angling for a reward, you’re doing good because you love the beauty and holiness of God.

And here’s why that matters—because the opposite of purity is hypocrisy. That’s why Jesus looked straight at the Pharisees—the religious elite of His day—and said, “You’re like whitewashed tombs. You look great on the outside, but inside you’re full of dead things.”

And John the Baptist didn’t sugarcoat it either. He looked them dead in the eye and said, “You brood of vipers.” That phrase describes people whose hearts are full of evil, leading them to produce evil words and deeds. It paints a picture of a dangerous, poisonous, and deceptive nature—like a nest of snakes. Outwardly, they looked religious. Inwardly, they were toxic and there words were poison. .

It’s like the person who has a perfectly handpicked social media presence—they post the Bible verse, the church selfie, the family picture with everybody smiling—but behind closed doors they’re cold to their spouse, short-tempered with their kids, and chasing sin in the dark. That’s the very opposite of purity.

Purity of heart is the inside matching the outside. It’s integrity. It’s wholeness. It’s when your private life and your public life tell the same story—because God has actually changed you from the inside out.

And then comes peacemaking. Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

This flows right out of meekness. When you’re not grasping for your own way or promoting yourself, peace has room to grow. A meek person can step into conflict and actually help resolve it, because they’re not trying to win points with either side—they’re after truth and reconciliation.

Fellas, let me ask you—when you walk inside your house, does peace walk in with you? Or does tension walk in? Do your wife and kids breathe easier because Dad just got home, or do they brace themselves? A peacemaker doesn’t bring chaos through the door—he brings calm. That doesn’t mean you avoid hard conversations, but it does mean you handle them with gentleness, with fairness, with a heart to heal rather than to dominate.

Scripture is full of calls to pursue peace. Psalm 34 says, “Seek peace and pursue it.” Romans 12 says, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” Hebrews 12 adds, “Strive for peace with everyone.” Over and over, God’s Word ties discipleship to peacemaking.

And here’s why—because God Himself is a peacemaker. He sent Jesus—the Prince of Peace—to make peace between us and Him. That peace wasn’t cheap; it cost the blood of His Son. And now, if we are His children, we live like our Father. We don’t stir up drama, we don’t pour gasoline on fires, we make peace. We make peace in our homes, in our marriages, in our friendships, in our workplaces—because we’ve already been given peace with God through Christ.

So you see the flow? Poverty of spirit leads to mourning. Mourning leads to meekness. Meekness leads to hunger for righteousness. And hunger for righteousness flows into mercy, purity, and peacemaking. It’s a whole new way of life, rooted in an awareness of need and overflowing in action.

Now here’s something we don’t usually like to talk about: the path to peace often first requires conflict. That’s exactly how Jesus made peace. In Luke 12 He says, “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49, ESV). That’s not soft, sentimental language. Jesus makes peace through conflict.

Think about it—the climax of the Gospels is a showdown. Jesus in conflict with the Jewish leaders, in conflict with the Roman government, even in combat with Satan himself. And where does it all lead? To the cross. Paul says in Colossians 1:20 that God reconciles mankind to Himself, “and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” That’s violent language. Real peace is costly.

And here’s the reality—if you follow Jesus the Peacemaker, you’re going to get caught in the same kind of crossfire. D.A. Carson said it like this: “It is no accident that Jesus should pass from peacemaking to persecution, for the world enjoys its cherished hates and prejudices so much that the peacemaker is not always welcome.”

That’s why Jesus tells us in John 15:18–20, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”

It’s part of the deal. Disciples walk the same path as the prophets before them, and as the Master Himself. That’s why Jesus says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:10, ESV). And again in verse 11: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.”

Now, don’t miss this—Jesus doesn’t say every kind of suffering is blessed. Peter reminds us: “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.… But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God” (1 Pet. 2:19–20, ESV). If you suffer because of your own sin or foolishness, that’s on you. But if you’re reviled, slandered, or persecuted because you stood with Christ—because you refused to back down on righteousness—then you are blessed.

In fact, Jesus says in Matthew 5:12, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

So the Beatitudes end with this reminder: disciples of Jesus don’t just live differently, they get treated differently. But here’s the good news—when persecution comes, it’s not the end of the story. It’s actually proof you belong to Him, and it points forward to the reward that’s waiting.

If you look at these eight beatitudes—or the whole Sermon on the Mount—as a checklist you’ve got to nail down in order to earn heaven, you’re going to burn out quickly.

You’ll end up in despair. Why? Because you’ll never do them perfectly enough to earn God’s favor. That’s not what they’re here for.

These eight aren’t steps on a ladder you climb to get to God.

They are a grateful response to the fact that Jesus came down the ladder for you. He came all the way down, took your place on the cross, and gave you grace you could never earn.

C. S. Lewis once said, when someone told him they didn’t like the Sermon on the Mount: “Of course you don’t. No one likes the sledgehammer that knocks their house down.”

And he’s right. The Sermon on the Mount exposes us. It shows us just how much we need grace.

But then, in response to His gracious act of saving us, these beatitudes start to flow more naturally as the shape of a disciple’s life.

So let me ask you two questions:

Have you received Jesus as your Savior? That’s where everything starts. Salvation is substitution. It’s a gift. He takes your place—you receive His grace.

Have you embarked on the life of discipleship? Because discipleship is characterized by these eight things. Are you ready to let these words form the shape of your life?

And if so—have you shown that through your first act of obedience, your first step as a disciple, baptism?

When we baptize, we ask two questions:

Who is Jesus?

Will you follow Him wherever He leads?

Some of you have been putting this off for way too long.

You’ve come to faith in Christ—maybe a while ago, maybe recently—but you’ve never gone public through baptism. And Jesus is clear: following Him means obeying Him.

If you say, “Yes, I’m serious about Jesus,” but refuse baptism, that’s a disconnect. Listen—there is no excuse that justifies disobedience.

In just a minute, I’m going to invite you to come forward. Let me be clear—coming forward isn’t locking you into being baptized this morning. It’s starting the conversation. We’ll answer questions, we’ll walk with you, and if we decide together you need more time, that’s okay. But don’t stay in your seat because you’re afraid.

Don’t make excuses—we’ve can get everything you need. Change of clothes, towels—the whole deal.

If you’re nervous, ask the friend/ family member next to you to walk with you. If you don’t know them, ask anyway—I guarantee they’ll say yes. And if you see the person next to you looking nervous, just give them a gentle tap on the hand—that’s your way of saying, “I’ll walk with you.”

JUST COME. This is important. This could be the defining moment that changes the rest of your life—and maybe even your eternity.

So in just a moment, we’re going to stand. And when we do—don’t wait. Step out into the aisle, meet one of our people, they’ll be standing at the front- and let’s talk.

So let’s stand, let’s pray, then we will start to sing- and that will be your time to respond.